The power-source monitoring applied to the energy saving has become indispensable in the modern technologies of the green energy. A variety of appliances are used in the current life. When the appliances can be connected to one of the intelligent socket and the intelligent meter for power-source monitoring beforehand, the energy saving can be further achieved.
Regarding the application system of the conventional intelligent sockets, firstly, the conventional intelligent sockets should be plugged into the power-source sockets, and then the appliances are plugged into the intelligent sockets. It is necessary for each appliance, to be monitored, to attach a respective intelligent socket to the respective power-source socket of the each appliance, thereby performing the switch control, the state detection and the energy-consumption to the each appliance. Additionally, the application system may further make the measurement and the monitoring to at least one of the voltage, the current, the power consumption and the energy consumption for the each appliance. However, this configuration which one appliance corresponds to one intelligent socket limits the layout elasticity of the intelligent sockets, wherein when a specific intelligent socket has a fault, the application system cannot measure the appliance collocated therewith so as to limit the measurement function of the specific intelligent socket.
A smart master-slave socket is provided in the Taiwan invention patent with the patent No. I329948, and may achieve the purpose of lowering the standby power. Please refer to FIG. 1(a) and FIG. 1(b). FIG. 1(a) is a schematic diagram showing a smart master-slave socket system 9 in the prior art. FIG. 1(b) is a detailed schematic diagram showing the smart master-slave socket system 9 in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1(a) and FIG. 1(b), the smart master-slave socket system 9 includes a smart master-slave socket 10, an indoor alternating-current power line AC1 and a remote control device 7. The smart master-slave socket 10 includes a switch unit 1 and a monitoring device 8. The monitoring device 8 includes a detection unit 2, a control unit 3, a protection unit 4, a micro-control unit 5, and a communication unit 6. The control unit 3 includes a plurality of semiconductor switches 33, a driving circuit 32 and a control circuit 31. The switch unit 1 includes a master socket 11 and four slave sockets 12. The master socket 11 and the slave sockets 12 are connected to the plurality of semiconductor switches 33, respectively, and are connected to the indoor alternating-current power line AC1. The indoor alternating-current power line AC1 is connected to the communication unit 6.
The micro-control unit 5 is used to make the signal control and the signal operation. The communication unit 6 is used to transmit and receive the commands, so that the user may turn on or turn off the master socket 11 and the slave sockets 12 through a home control network (not shown). The detection unit 2 measures the power consumption condition of an electronic product, wherein the electronic product is connected to the master socket 11. When the power consumption quantity of the electronic product detected by the detection unit 2 is less than a rated value, the detection unit 2 notifies the micro-control unit 5 to make a standby process. The control unit 3 receives a control signal from the micro-control unit 5 for turning on or turning off the master socket 11 and the slave sockets 12.
In FIG. 1(a), the communication unit 6 receives a command signal from the remote control device 7 to generate an action. The communication unit 6 may utilize a wireless ZigBee communication protocol, a Bluetooth interface, or a wired power line data transmission module to perform the monitoring of the electrical parameters, wherein the electrical parameters include the voltage, the current, the watt number, the degree number, or the like. Additionally, the monitoring device 8 may also meet the requirement to remotely control or time-definitely control whether to supply the power or not. However, when one of the detection unit 2, the control unit 3, the protection unit 4, the micro-control unit 5 and the communication unit 6 has a fault, the control of the switch unit 1 will be affected. Under this condition, another monitoring device 8 cannot be used to monitor the switch unit 1, and the monitoring device 8 cannot monitor a plurality of switch units 1.
An appliance control method is provided in the Taiwan invention patent with the patent No. I239177. The appliance control method uses a power line to serve as a transmission medium, and uses an original control code compatible with the conventional appliances. The appliance control method may transform the common commercial power-line communication protocol into control codes for different brands of appliances or different kinds of appliances on the market, and may retain the control codes for different brands of appliances in order that the appliance manufacturer can more easily develop the intelligent appliances. However, the appliance control method still needs the transformation of the power-line communication protocol and the translation of the control code.